West Oakland’s Zoning of Public Housing in 1900s-1980 & Why it Matters Now
Low-income and communities of color in the United States are victims of environmental injustice due to low-income communities being heavily impacted by industrial stationary and mobile sources of air pollution.
Barry Hill, director of the Environmental Justice office for the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), found “76–80 studies that have consistently said that minorities and low-income communities are disproportionately exposed to environmental harms and risks” and cited race and ethnicity as the most crucial factors in determining where stationary and other environmental hazards are placed (Hill, 2002 p. 48; D Bullard et al., 2008; Cole, 2000; Pastor, Sadd, and Hipp, 2001; United Church of Christ, 1987).
As we found this issue to be problematic on a national level, I have found that local communities in the Bay Area have continued history with the placement of industrial sanctions near homes of marginalized communities. In this article, I will be unraveling the historical trend of public housing and industrial sanctions in my city, Oakland.
I will be doing this by displaying the three instances of public housing in West Oakland: Peralta Villa, Campbell Village, and the Acorn project. In all three of these public housing projects, I will investigate if zoning and land use of these public housing near industrial sources benefited the community. In order to investigate this question, I will employ a three-part analytical strategy. I will first introduce the goal of each public housing project; second, show the process of building public housing; lastly, discuss the effects of the public housing after it was built. The method I will apply to investigate this question is synthesizing historical archival documents such as project development and renewal plans, newspaper archives, maps, images, and existing scholarships.
Ultimately, I hope to show that Zoning and land use of Peralta Villa, Campbell Village and the Acorn public housing project in West Oakland, CA harmed the community by causing displacement of residents, promoting disproportionate distribution of public housing complexes near sources of industrial pollution, and mobile sources.
Before I jump in, I want to first provide a background to environmental racism. Environmental racism refers to the institutional rules, regulations, policies, or government and/or corporate decisions that deliberately target certain communities for locally undesirable land uses and lax enforcement of zoning and environmental laws, resulting in communities being disproportionately exposed to toxic and hazardous waste based upon race.
West Oakland is one of the oldest communities in the City of Oakland, known for the changing technology of transportation, it is a source of economic development in California and the West.
West Oakland’s location between the natural interface of the sea and land and the edge to San Francisco, destined the economy to thrive off of transportation. Interurban railroad lines and other industries were promoted around the year 1911 as they served a purpose to economically fuel War World II until the 1920s. World War II brought defense industries, an influx of government workers, and changed the existence of West Oakland.
In the 1930s West Oakland’s property value and the economy of the community began to decline. Poverty landed in West Oakland and the war against drugs and poverty took place and Oakland city officials recognized that the “land values in the downtown core retail area and central business district declined by an astonishing 50 percent” (Self, 2005, p. 138).
Many claim the confirmation on the war on drugs and poverty was due to innumerable social problems regarding “racial segregation of housing and labor markets or unequal distribution of political and economic power” (Self, 2005, p. 139).
In 1941, the agency bulldozed 300 ‘slum units’ for the very first public housing built in California in West Oakland, Peralta Villa and Campbell Village housing projects (Solari, 2001, p. 27; Douglass 44). The destruction of homes displaced African-American residents and it was suspected that authorities unjustly targeted the African-American community for the removal (Solari, 2001, p. 27). The thirty-five two-story residential building served as a pen of the largest slum clearance project in East Bay and proved the suspicion of the African American community removal as it “only housed defense workers, many of whom were not original residents of the area” (Solari, 2001, p. 27).
In 1958, West Oakland still dealt with the neighborhood being a slum and a blighted area, so the Oakland Redevelopment Agency determined that the neighborhood was in need of another urban renewal that consisted of a “combination of conservation, rehabilitation, clearance, and redevelopment”. The Agency believed that “55 percent was in need of clearance” because the intersection of housing and industries generated unhealthy conditions and therefore “physically deteriorated the housing stock” (Solari, 2001, p. 28). The agency recognized that the zoning practices of the housing projects were disproportionately distributed near pollutant sources that did not benefit the community and instead caused a deterioration of the health of low-income residents and negatively impacted the housing market.
The Acorn Project was introduced and the goal was to demolish over 50 blocks of West Oakland, which included the “historic heart of black Oakland, 7th street” (Rhomberg, 2004, p. 125). The construction did not begin until five years after the demolition of all existing structures, “except church, mortuary, and one home that was not demolished” (Hausler, 1987, 135–6). The demolishing of these structures forced 9,000 residents to relocate, five hundred of whom were low-income, families of color who “would not be able to afford private replacement housing in the city (Rhomberg, 2004, p. 128). The Acorn plan did not take these residents into consideration, nor the difficulty for Black residents who faced great resistance from landlords and banks. Anxiety built up in these families, especially those who were on Public Assistance because they feared the financial and emotional hardships that came with moving (Council of Social Planning — Oakland Area, 1965, p. 86–88). Reverend Hill, a represented of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), made it clear that the Acorn redevelopment plan did not have a safeguard to ensure rehousing for displaced minority families, and doubted whether the plan estimated private rental vacancies open to blacks (Rhomberg, 2004, p. 129).
In a meeting held on January 20th, 1960, city councilor Robert Osborne denied the request of Oakland Housing Authority for 506 new units for the displaced residents from this project. Oakland tribune described this as the latter’s “racial tirade” since Osborne stated, “‘I believe there is a direct affinity between public housing and public welfare,’ and he suggested that unwed minority-group mothers were a disproportionate burden on the country budget” (Oakland Tribune, 1960). Hill replied back by stating, “‘Erase 150 years of slavery. Erase 80 years of low wages, segregation, and having the doors slammed in our faces. Then you might find some moral reason for condemning instead of helping. But don’t continue to push these people into a vicious circle and then blame them for being here’” (Oakland Tribune, 1960).
Two protests broke out in front of the Acorn site office on Seventh Street calling for rehabilitation, not razing the homes of these residents (Oakland Tribune, 1962). Threatened residents came together to file a suit in federal court to stop the development, since they strongly believed “there was no plan provided to the residents with least equal housing ‘on racially integrated basis’” (Rhomberg, 2004, p. 131). The court dismissed the suit and ruled that Redevelopment Agency was helping the residents by providing them housing in physically better conditions than what most Acorn residents use to live in.
Without mentioning the issue of racial segregation in relocation housing, the Acorn project was approved for construction; the building of the Acorn project began in 1962 and construction was completed by 1974 (Marans, 1969, p. 4). 1,000 new units were successfully created, but there was a loss of a community atmosphere and the efforts to integrate the community was unsuccessful as it only manifested into an all black housing project (Hausler, 1987, 136–7).
Another purpose of clearing the slums was to invest in more industries. An agreement made by the conservatives Congress believed the economy of West Oakland would benefit if the urban renewal project cooperated with city halls and downtown developers. Purchasing and clearing of property was an opening for Congress to encouraging industrial, commercial, and instructional use of redevelopment property (Self, 2005, p.142).
Major John Houlihan a former Tribune lawyer, believed that this redevelopment plan should be used to invest in the addition of new industries (Figure 5) so this can have an effect in “strengthening the city’s tax base” and “creating new job opportunities”(Self, 2005, p. 143).
Oakland Citizens Committee for Urban Renewal (OCCUR) blindly accepted this renewal plan as they saw this as an opportunity to solve social problems (Self, 2005, p. 143). This overall contradicted the very sole reason of the Acorn project since it was meant to renew the neighborhood of slums that intersected housing in industries and overall generated unhealthy conditions.
There was an obvious financial interest in regards to the Acorn project as it allowed another reason to zone more industries around these public housing complexes. Public Housing was exposed to a pollutant source, which deteriorated the health of the residents as they were forced to endure the fumes and noise from the industrial and mobile sources of pollution.
In the eyes of many, Public housing is seen as a charity for low-income communities, because of this many would find no reason to criticize or challenge the redevelopment of West Oakland. One would argue that the development of these projects benefited the low-income communities since they could bypass the racial discrimination in private housing markets and unequal employment opportunities — as industry jobs were right around the corner. However, native community members were forced out of their homes, and those who became residents of the housing projects were victims of unhealthy conditions for the benefit of West Oakland’s economy.
Today, West Oakland is more conscious of enforcing pollution regulations because white residents have voiced out this problem.
It should not have taken white residents to see the issue with the placement of industries near homes, rather zoning land-use policies should have taken place when these public housings were being built.
Living in a pollution-free residential area is a human right, and by purposely putting minorities in areas where it is obviously not livable because they don’t have the political capital to fight back, is truly a crime.
Taking advantage of their circumstances for not being able to afford other residential areas and placing them in an environment that is slowly deteriorating their health, should be addressed.
The zoning and land use of Peralta Villa, Campbell Village and the Acorn public housing project in West Oakland, CA did not benefit the community since it permitted displacement of residents and promoted disproportionate distribution of the public housing complexes near sources of industrial pollution and mobile sources, which had long-lasting negative health impacts.
Reference
Cole W. (2000) California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, Testimony, February
Hearing Transcript, p. 16
Cole W. Foster. (2000) From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and the Rise of the
Environmental Justice Movement New York University Press pp. 54–55, 167–83
Council of Social Planning — Oakland Area. (1965). Report of the Community relations Program
Project Acorn July 1, 1962-december 31, 1964 (Report №70) Oakland, CA: Alameda County
D Bullard, Mohai, Saha, Wright. (2008). Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty: Why Race Still
Matters After All of These Years. Environmental Law. 38.
Hausler, (1987). Donald. Blacks in Oakland: 1852 -1987. unpublished manuscript,
Available in the Oakland History Room.
Hill B., (2002) director, Office of Environmental Justice, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Testimony, before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, hearing, Washington, D.C., February 8, 2002, official transcript, p. 48
Maantay, J. (2001) “Zoning, Equity, and Public Health.” American Journal of Public Health
91.7: 1033–1041. Print.
Marans, M. , (1969) “Relocation in Acorn: A Focal Point for the Study of the Transition in
Urban Renewal Policy and Politics in Oakland” (MS, Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California, Berkeley,)
Oakland Tribune, (1960) January 7, 20 and 25.
Oakland Tribune, (1962) May 3 and 4, and June 16
Oakland Redevelopment Agency, (1964). Industrial Redevelopment: Project Acorn. Oakland,
CA: The Agency, February 8 1964.
Organization for Social and technical Innovation. (1968) Project Acorn: a study of the social
feasibility of a housing development in West Oakland, California, Cambridge, Mass.
Pastor, Jr., Sadd, and Hipp. (2001) “Which Came First? Toxic Facilities, Minority Move-In,
and Environmental Justice,” Journal of Urban Affairs, vol. 23, no. 1, p. 3
Rhomberg, C. (2004). No there there race, class, and political community in Oakland. Berkeley:
University of California Press. P. 121.
Self, R. O. (2005). American Babylon: race and the struggle for postwar Oakland. Princeton,
NJ: Princeton University Press.
Solari, E. (2001). The Making of an Archaeological Site and the Unmaking of a
Community in West Oakland, California. In The Archaeology of Urban Landscapes: Explorations In Slumland, ed. Alan Mayne and Tim Murray. pp. 22–38. Cambridge University Press
United Church of Christ, Commission for Racial Justice, (1987) Toxic Wastes and Race in the
United States: A National Report on the Racial and Socioeconomic Characteristics of Communities with Hazardous Waste Sites, pp. xiii, xiv, 13–21.
Waldholz, R. (2012, January 30). New rules slash emissions at Port of Oakland, but threaten
local truckers. Retrieved December 11, 2017, from https://oaklandnorth.net/2012/01/30/new-rules-slash-emissions/
Whittemore, A. H. (2016) “The Experience of Racial and Ethnic Minorities with Zoning in the
United States.” Journal of Planning Literature, vol. 32, no. 1, 2016, pp. 16–27.